Marketplace aggregator SellerX has announced that it is letting go of a fifth of its workforce. This comes down to 170 jobs out of a total of more than 800. The company is doing this because it needs to cut costs.
SellerX is an ecommerce aggregator, based in Germany. It buys and builds Amazon brands. The market for ecommerce aggregators was thriving, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but since brick-and-mortar stores are open again, many aggregators have stumbled.
Cancelled auction last year
In September last year, financier BlackRock announced that SellerX was no longer able to meet its financial obligations. The financier had lent the aggregator half a billion euros. When it was no longer able to meet repayment obligations, the financier decided to auction SellerX.
However, the auction was cancelled and debt negotiations continued. This resulted in a debt-equity swap, where the debts were exchanged for shares.
Financial problems not over
It seems that SellerX’s financial problems are not yet over. The company is now cutting 170 jobs, out of a total of more than 800. “We have to cut costs in order to become profitable”, said CEO Olivier Van Calster.
‘We have to cut costs to become profitable’
The CEO also said that BlackRock “is 100 percent behind the new strategy.” This strategy seems to entail simplifying SellerX’s business, and focusing on growth. This results in many layoffs, as well as cutting the number of brands belonging to the aggregator. The brands will be reduced from 67 to 19.
